How much would you pay for a special DVD in High Definition?

[jayn_j]

Depends. I will pay significantly more for a production that pays attention to the details and gives the quality to match the price. I'm talking about equipping the principals for sound, being prepared for the lighting conditions, arranging for reasonable and reserved vantage points for shooting, and at least a rough edit so that the 20 seconds of the ten year olds mugging for the camera, the obvious mistakes, and the test setups are cut out. All of that is more important to me than "high definition"

 

[harshness]

I will pay significantly more for a production that pays attention to the details and gives the quality to match the price.

+1

Most can be happy with a bad VHS rendition to provide them with the cues to the memories. Like your memory, the lost detail may actually improve the experience.

You should strive to make your money on the production and let the dubs cover their cost.

 

[TheForce]

I'm with Ilya.

For my wedding, I'd pay considerably more than $75 for a Blu-ray. Same for my son's college graduation coming up May 18th. Same for the birth of a grandchild (judiciously edited). Same for certain one-time life events such as certain awards ceremonies and swearing ins (swearings in?).

It depends upon how special. Certainly, if I wanted a DVD of the event, and a Blu-ray was available for $45, I'd pay it. Now, for a sorta mass market production, such as a production of River Dance that I attended, I'd pay at least $55, maybe $75. But then, that sort of recording would likely continue to be available for years, and would be much longer than 30 minutes.

Sadly, the market this year is small and would not likely pay. Maybe in another year or two. Best to be in on that curve early in the game, but not too early.

Excellent points to consider. e.g. When we attended the play KA Circ du Solei I would have paid $100 for the BluRay HD video but it wasn't available. You can't even buy a SD DVD of the play. What is available is a DVD of how the production was developed but not the play itself. Some day it may be available and I would likely buy it then but would consider not much over the $35 price tag. This tells me that I am a "sucker" for the heat of the moment on videos like this. This is why it is important on some programs to make the DVD in either format available at the heat of the moment.

In the case of a specialty program that is what we call a vanity video, the offering of a BluRay version would certainly cover the cost, I believe, for the upcharge. If you owned a BluRay player and Full HD monitor you would likely pay a $45 upcharge for the BluRay version. For the most part, this is the purpose of my poll, not whether you would pay that for a BluRay version up charge for a standard Hollywood movie or even the event you attended like a play. More about the vanity video.

If all it took is a burning of the BluRay DVD from the same production and edit costs I wouldn't think it is such a big deal to make that offer available but it isn't. The cost to make the master is considerably higher, both in time and money. So a decision to go Full HD 1080 x 1920 shoot and edit is significant.

 

[jayn_j]

Excellent points to consider. e.g. When we attended the play KA Circ du Solei I would have paid $100 for the BluRay HD video but it wasn't available. You can't even buy a SD DVD of the play. What is available is a DVD of how the production was developed but not the play itself. Some day it may be available and I would likely buy it then but would consider not much over the $35 price tag. This tells me that I am a "sucker" for the heat of the moment on videos like this. This is why it is important on some programs to make the DVD in either format available at the heat of the moment.

Isn't that kind of a different animal? Are we talking about filming a performance of the play or "this" performance of the play. There have been a few, but not many commercial releases of theatrical productions. Some that come to mind are Pippin, Victor-Victoria, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park With George and Sweeny Todd. In these cases, they take a lot of care in setting up the equipment for multiple camera angles, hook into the sound system, and edit carefully. They couldn't possibly do the format justice for "your" performance and you would likely be disappointed. It would also have a lot of copyright issues as well.

 

[TheForce]

jayn_j-
First of all in my case I pay all the performance rights and permissions for a retail sale of the recordings on video. It's part of the process check list, like lighting and sound and other items that need to be paid. So, that is not an issue. In part, the survey addresses by way of subsequent posts, the differece between a general performance video of an event you attend and one in which is personal / special, I call a vanity video. Navychop had a good explanation.
The video production of a stage play at the 9 camera often live switched for broadcast air, in most cases is well beyond the league of 2 or 3 camera event video that I was looking at. That does not mean the 3 camera production is any less value to the vanity buyer than a 9 camera production. You should note that in many cases the single camera of a lock down on a stage is of the most value, such as to the choreographer and director for instance. Then the close up shots have greater value to parents and friends of the performer. One style of shooting is not good for everyone. To casual TV viewers the multi camera is what works best.

 

[jayn_j]

jayn_j-
First of all in my case I pay all the performance rights and permissions for a retail sale of the recordings on video. It's part of the process check list, like lighting and sound and other items that need to be paid. So, that is not an issue. In part, the survey addresses by way of subsequent posts, the differece between a general performance video of an event you attend and one in which is personal / special, I call a vanity video. Navychop had a good explanation.
The video production of a stage play at the 9 camera often live switched for broadcast air, in most cases is well beyond the league of 2 or 3 camera event video that I was looking at. That does not mean the 3 camera production is any less value to the vanity buyer than a 9 camera production. You should note that in many cases the single camera of a lock down on a stage is of the most value, such as to the choreographer and director for instance. Then the close up shots have greater value to parents and friends of the performer. One style of shooting is not good for everyone. To casual TV viewers the multi camera is what works best.

Yeah, I know. I also apologize for continuing to drag this off topic. I couldn't resist responding to your previous post. You mentioned Circ Du Solei, and that would be significant royalties. I figured you were talking about Madam Rosa's Dance Company's Winter Recital and not Wicked.

My earlier point was that too many "videographers" come in with a single handheld amateur DV machine and then try to sell the raw footage for an inflated price. I've been on both sides of that lens, at least on the still camera side.

 

[TheForce]

I guess it depends on the region. As for the likes of the circ video- I have never heard of anyone trying to bootleg a copyright infringed video of an event like that. Those videos are mostly produced by the company doing the performance anyway. I was talking more of the vanity type event video.

As for the likes of your second paragraph- this area pretty much prevents that sort of activity as the performances are rarely open and when they are the videos are too special and personal to be marketed. The unions in control of the performances just prevent amateur video taping during stage performances and violators are escorted out of the auditorium by the local police after a firm warning.

 

[vurbano]

20 bucks

 

[TheForce]

Vurbano- as expected media costs are coming down every week and while when I posted this my supplier was opricing it at 18.50 in 25 lots. The latest is now 11.50. It seems to be coming down fast now. Soon the $25 upcharge will all be alotted to the increase cost of production which hasn't dropped at all yet since the introduction of the consumer camcorders in HD. Editing is still expensive.